A change is happening in 69
86
45
2020
Beat covid
These guys are great for quarantine time

Typical for this early period in GD history, set list is dominated by Jerry and Pig Pen. First four tunes, clocking in at roughly 25 minutes, offer Jerry at his psychedelic finest, on dupree's, mountains of the moon->d star jam->china cat->rag. 12 minutes that follow find Pig Pen on It Hurts Me Too->Hard to Handle. Then, even though Bobby's not singing (and writing) as much at this early juncture, he offers one of their earliest of improvisatory masterworks in the other one. And this version is splendid: cryptical->o1->eleven->o1->it's a sin, followed by a fiery morning dew. (35 mins). Making up for the short set and show from the previous evening is this behemoth. Holy Viola! And that Caution Jam, yowza! ****

This show has mainly been noted for being the time they played a backing tape of What's Become Of The Baby. It's neat history and there's some big sections, but the following night is a better show overall (both were released in part on Dick's #26). Though the band were mostly playing one long show at the time, there's a brief set break here. The previous night the Velvet Underground went first and played long; the Dead short. This set was the Dead teasing the mighty VU, playing long (there was also a warm-up band in front), and playing in reaction, tone-wise. Richie Unterberger's book "White Light/White Heat" describes this gig. The boys had just played here 11/27, 11/28, 1/31 & 2/1!

First Set. A fine example of Mountains of the Moon; @5:20 does Jer set down his acoustic and pick up his electric? Annoyingly, this gets cut into a separate track called "Dark Star Jam" on the digital copies, but it collapses into a raucous China Cat. Doin' That Rag is also a classic version. The rhythm section is a bit of a mess through Hard to Handle though The Eleven has moments. They usually played It's a Sin too slow - just sat on it. This one's better (out of only a dozen. It was never well-traveled). The cymbals almost sound like backwards echo in Morning Dew. Garcia runs up and down standard scales that he would stop using in a years time. It has a dark, brooding vibe. After that Bobby is rough and the drummers go on independent study but Jer weaves wild willowy wands. Bobby indulges with the Wanda Jackson number and Baby Blue gets a little sketchy. A 33-minute Lovelight is decent, if not generic.

Second Set. The oft-discussed Viola Lee appears on Fallout (because Phil's the focus). It's a decent-enough version; sloppy drumming gives way to a wild jam. I dig the Sonic Youth-like breakdown. The backing tape of What's Become of the Baby is about as weird as they got - I dare them to release this VU-influenced piece officially. I'm betting this cleared everybody out, as it would have been physically painful. Perhaps the most cacophonous set ever and worth hearing. Once.

1st Set:  B-
2nd Set: C
Overall = 3 Stars

Highlights:
Mountains of the Moon - fun version
China Cat - more raucous than usual
Doin' That Rag - passionate
Morning Dew - VU-influenced

SOURCES: Cleaned up and correctly pitched by Miller (miller.97393), with Dick's Picks #26 also containing 9 of the tracks and Fallout from the Phil Zone one.

Pretty cool to hear Jerry singing lead on a blues tune that would seemingly fall in Pig's domain.
Has similar groove as 'Hurts me too' which they had played a few songs earlier.
The original Minglewood has plenty of fire but I guess the lyrics do not completely fit with the theme of the song. Still Weir's voice is on.
I think it's Phil singing back-up on Silver Threads?(Dead had so many tunes to choose from)
Baby Blue got overplayed in the encore slot in the late 80's but rocks out here.
Stephen = "A ladies choice!"-WEIR
Into a solid LOVELIGHT.
Must listen :Viola> Caution Jam > Viola
Meltdown in Caution is epic.
And if that don't do it for you
>Feedback> What's become of the Baby> Feedback
Clementine right on target with review!
Great show with very good sound.
Bid You Goodnight-Indeed!!!

5

Viola - Caution - Viola !!

Forget DP28. It is a good release for the entirety of 4/28, but the way they fumbled such an EASY slam-dunk release of a show makes me wonder if the band's personnel people *really* get it when it comes to what deadheads like. This show is unique, playful, strange, taking us through a decidedly unusual shuffling of the '69 setlist suspects and some surprises...highlights:

*the beautiful, lace-delicate bridge from Mountains to China Cat...
*that crazy-sloppy wild Hard to Handle. Never heard Pig botch what is really an easy r&b tune, but they really get into it nonetheless...
*The Other One windup is whiffed a bit, but how can you complain when they sandwich the Eleven in there?!?
*listen to Jerry go on Sittin' on Top of the World!!!!
*Lovelight is AMAZING! The fact that they left this off of an official release is confounding to me.

Of course, the BIG news here is the 2nd set / encore thing. It's a terrifying, pulsing, organic-electric beast-creation. And I mean the entire thing, from the opening drums to Viola to the end of the pristine, ash-laden Goodnight. What's Become of the Baby is one of Hunter's most deeply unsettling, mystic vocals, and conveys all too well that RS review: "no other music sustains a lifestyle so delicate and loving and lifelike." Of course, the lyric is shrouded in an impossibly loud, scary, monster acid-melting-feedback jam....I don't know, guys, but for me this 2nd set suite is one of the *VERY* biggest of Dead creations as far as I'm concerned...

To hell with DP28 - find the Miller board out there in the ether -

This show's great. Dick's Picks 26 is a treat, but it's such a HUGE bummer how they don't keep the whole show intact, either night (this or the next, in MN). I love having official releases that are mastered and sound amazing, but I'd prefer to have the entire show. There are pieces of this that I fear I will never get to hear because it's not available on the archive and Dick's Picks is incomplete. Even if they took out parts of the show that were deemed "not necessary" or "not good enough," or whatever the damn reason, I hate not having every last second. There're enough shows (especially this early (pre-70s), and '67 even more so) that there doesn't exist any tape or recording at all that when there's a full recording, specifically a SBD that sounds great, I hate not being able to have every last beat on record in my collection. It's just a bummer that this show, in my collection, will never be complete just because someone decided that they only wanted two disks released, rather than a bulky package containing entire recordings. Major bummer man.
That said, if anyone does have an entire recording of this show and would be able to send it to me, or trade, or whatever, it'd be so wonderful if you emailed me mhoniotes19@gmail.com. I'd be forever grateful. I wasn't born until '90, so I'll never have the chance to see the Dead, and I feel so unfortunate for that, so I want every last second I can possibly get my hands on and let me at least dream of seeing their magic.

hard to imagine that the Morning Dew and Sittin' weren't included on the official release.

even harder to imagine is why the Feedback>Baby>Feedback wasn't...what were they thinking!?

good show, many excellent and unique moments, but rather sloppy in places. the What's Become of the Baby is certainly must-here territory though...

Anyone have a copy of this version they can send me? shoot me an email at cb18201@hotmail.com Just got dicks picks 26 and would really love to hear the rest of this show. I dont know why they dont leave up the unreleased stuff. thanks